Professional women's team sports in the US hasn't really been a total success story just yet (I'm hopefully that the future will prove the "just yet" warranted). Individual sports like tennis and golf have seen their share of success for women. But as for team sports, there have been a lot of attempts that haven't had long term success.

I would never want female athletes to fail, but I honestly hope this one does: The Lingerie Football League.



Sadly, there already is a professional women's football league in the US: The Independent Women's Football League. But these women wear clothing, how boring! Plus they don't all look like models-turned-"athletes". The IWFL looks like it is made up of women who have the stature required for football (you know, they can take a beating or tackle another person). But the LFL looks like it is made up of rejects from America's Next Top Sports Model who still want to launch their "career" with any exposure they can get. If they were really interested in football, why aren't they in the IWFL?



But don't be fooled ... the LFL ladies do take a beating! As evidenced by this photo of a scratch ... I can't tell if this is satire or not:



You want to see cute injured females, go to a Roller Derby match. True, those women wear fishnets and skirts, but who runs Roller Derby leagues? You never doubt that those women are in it because they truly enjoy roller derby, and not because it's good publicity.

I'm sure the ladies of the LFL take their job as a football player seriously ... maybe as seriously as they would take any other model or acting gig. I'm sure they work hard, and they understand the rules of the game. After all, like any professional sport, this is just a job.

But do the owners of the LFL take them seriously? I'm guessing no. How do you take someone seriously when you dress them in a helmet, shoulder and knee pads, but not an actual shirt. It all looks like some kind of fetish. The women are willing participants, but it still leaves me with a bad feeling. The LFL seems to have little to do with actual football, and everything to do with an excuse to parade hot girls around in bras and panties. All the while, how many tickets are sold for IWFL games?

Women's professional sports have a long way to go in this country before they are taken seriously. Sure, there have been many men's professional sports leagues that have failed, but sure enough, the big ones - the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and MLS - are all men. Other than the WNBA, what is the second longest-lasting women's professional sports league?

But in the meantime, some marketing genius decided it would be a good idea for form a professoinal women's sports league made up of lingerie-clad women. Outside of the Olympics and tennis, female athletes already struggle with getting actual respect from the public. Putting them in underwear is surely setting the idea of the "female athlete" back a few notches.

Not to mention the fact that it further perpetuates women as object. But that's another whole blog post.